Willie Nelson Against US Horse Slaughter

“It’s time for the cowboys to stand up for the horses”, country music legend Willie Nelson is reported to have said. There is a bill in Congress right now to ban the practice of slaughtering horses here in the U.S. as well as selling horses for slaughter elsewhere. The bill is being called The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, HR 503 for the House of Representatives and S 1915 for the Senate. Willie Nelson is lending his star-support through the Society for Animal Protective Legislation to encourage US citizens to get involved by calling their representatives.

So here’s the question I have for you today. Even though it’s not part of American culture to slaughter horses for food, should we outlaw it? I’ve been doing some reading on the subject today and there seems to be two issues here. The first is using horses as food, for human consumption or otherwise. Second is how well horses are treated prior to slaughter. People seem to either detest the practice of slaughtering and eating horses or are okay with it as long as the horses are treated well until they are slaughtered.

Personally, I’m against horse slaughter for food, medicine, whatever. Unless I’m terribly desperate, I’m not planning on killing anything I’ve given a name to. But I also recognize that this is the exact reason I can’t raise cattle for food. I’m too soft. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating beef and just about any other kind of meat I’ve tasted, but I couldn’t bring myself to raise an animal for slaughter or to sell an animal I knew was going to slaughter. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just don’t have the heart for it.

Some argue that horses shouldn’t be given preferential protection by law over cows, goats, etc. After all many keep cows, goats and other meat animals as pets (we do). So either protect everything or nothing at all, they say.
It’s for this reason, I’m not sure whether or not to support this bill. I can see reasons for and against it. What are your thoughts?